RazorPop announced plans to create the RazorPop P2P Music Subscription service.

The unlimited music subscription offering is similar to those from Yahoo and Napster. RazorPop is the developer of the multi- network TrustyFiles P2P file sharing software.

RazorPop offers music rights holders, including labels, composers, and publishers, a percentage of the subscription revenue, similar to licensing deals that have been entered into with iTunes and other centralized online music services. An independent clearinghouse will hold and disburse licensing fees. An industry research firm will sample network downloads and allocate payments among rights holders.

"Five years ago there were no online subscriptions and P2P was the primary conduit for unauthorized music downloads. Today the world is vastly different," said Marc Freedman, RazorPop CEO. "Digital music subscriptions are now available over a wide range of channels. The number one way consumers obtain unlicensed files today is through e-mail and instant messaging. Number three is copying files from another person's iPod or portable MP3 player. Yahoo typifies the new world. It just announced its music subscription plan, while at the same time offering Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger, along with its new Yahoo! Music Unlimited with portable player file transfer."

"The RazorPop P2P Music Subscription benefits both the music industry and consumers. For the industry, P2P is the one channel the major labels haven't licensed yet or monetized. That's ironic because P2P offers a ready-made customer base of 20 to 30 million US users. At $100 per year per subscriber, P2P represents a virtually instant multi-billion dollar market that can reverse the music industry's sales decline."

"On the consumer side, people will finally have the freedom to choose the music subscription channel and provider that's right for their lifestyle and consumption. The RazorPop music subscription service will be highly competitive with those from Yahoo, Napster, and others. We will deliver over thirty times more music tracks for less than ten dollars per month."

"Equally important, the RazorPop service immunizes our subscribers from music industry lawsuits. It's time to trust consumers. P2P users deserve protection for committing to support content creators. The record labels can bypass lawful P2P network users and focus on true copyright violators."

The music subscription service includes copyright infringement insurance. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) may continue to target non-subscribing P2P users with lawsuits, and inadvertently sue RazorPop's paying customers. The insurance will be capped at $5,000 per subscriber, which is above typical RIAA settlement amounts to date.

The introductory retail price is planned to be $9.95 per month or $99.95 per year paid in advance and will include RazorPop's award-winning TrustyFiles software. Subscribers will have access to virtually all music tracks on the P2P networks. Consensus industry estimates put the number of P2P music tracks at 32 million today. P2P music growth is expected to continue at double digit annual rates as increasing numbers of both established and emerging artists promote their works to the most eager segment of the music listening public, the P2P file sharing audience.

The music subscription launch is predicated upon execution of licensing agreements with music industry rights holders. RazorPop is providing a simple form agreement that can be executed electronically to expedite clearances and to avoid the need for regulatory intervention that would not be in the best interests of content owners or distributors. RazorPop will not comment on the status of in-progress confidential negotiations, but music industry receptivity has been encouraging.

RazorPop's TrustyFiles 2.4 is the industry's leading multiple P2P network software. TrustyFiles features simultaneous download of the same file over Kazaa, Gnutella, and Gnutella 2 P2P networks, and the Internet. TrustyFiles searches and downloads hundreds of millions of files over the Kazaa/Fast Track, Gnutella, Gnutella 2, and Bit Torrent P2P file sharing networks. TrustyFiles is FREE with NO spyware and NO additional bundled software and can be downloaded at http://www.TrustyFiles.com.